This invention generally relates to absorbent articles and, more particularly, to an improved disposable garment for incontinent adults or infants.
Infants and other incontinent persons wear disposable garments to receive and to contain discharge such as feces, urine, and other fluids from the body. Disposable diapers function both to contain the discharged materials and to isolate these materials from the body of the wearer and from the wearer's surroundings. Modern embodiments of disposable diapers perform these tasks in a manner superior to that of traditional cloth diapers.
Prior art disposable diapers disclose three basic structural elements: a fluid permeable topsheet designed to be placed next to the wearer's skin, a backsheet which forms the outer surface of the diaper, and an absorbent element interposed between the topsheet and the backsheet. The topsheet is permeable to fluids. The backsheet is a usually liquid impermeable or repellent. Its function is to contain fluids within the absorbent element thereby protecting the wearer's outer garments and other surfaces from soiling by these fluids. Backsheets are commonly formed of a thin sheet of polyethylene, polypropylene, or other flexible moisture impeding material which is substantially water impervious. The absorbent core of prior art diapers is comprised of a mass of hydrophilic fiber material. These fibers are often formed at least in part from cellulose. The core is intended to absorb fluids that permeate the topsheet. The core is capable of absorbing fluids many times its weight. Disposable diapers are generally hourglass shaped so as to best conform to the body of the wearer. The narrow portion of the shape is placed at the crotch of the wearer and the wide portions of the shape are folded about the body. The wide portions of the shape have projections, called "ears." The diapers are typically secured by tape fasteners attached to the ears.
One of the biggest problems with disposable diapers is designing them so as to comfortably minimize leakage. Many designs have been developed in efforts to satisfy this need. Some prior art disposable diapers have standing inner leg cuffs, combined with elastic leg gatherers, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,116 to Enloe. Others have elasticized standing cuffs, combined with elastic leg gatherers, such as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,278 to Lawson. The leg cuffs and elastic leg gatherers work together to retain waste. Others have "T"-shaped cuffs, such as disclosed, for example, in U.K. Patent Application No. 2 216 393.
The foregoing prior art cuff/elastic gatherer combinations and "T"-shaped cuffs are effective to varying degrees in containing discharge from a wearer's body. However, the designs are generally complex and require multiple steps in fabrication, resulting in undesirable expense and inefficiency. For example, cuff/elastic gather combinations require the creation of both a cuff and an elastic gatherer, which must be separately applied and which must be engineered to work together. "T"-shaped cuffs generally require means to place a "T"-shaped elasticized gasket upon a distal edge of a cuff, which may mean additional engineering and manufacturing expense, resulting in inefficiency.
Additional inefficiencies arise in the construction of garments having an hourglass contoured shape. The contoured garment generally provides a more comfortable fit than traditional rectangular garments. However, in most cases, such contoured garments are quite expensive to produce due to the use of complex high-precision machinery needed to form the intricate shapes. Many such garments are formed from rectangular absorbent articles, often cut in assembly-line fashion from moving webs. To form a garment from a rectangular piece of absorbent material, material is often cut away from the longitudinal edges of the absorbent article and discarded during formation of the leg holes. Such leg-hole cut-outs are known as "noodles." While the contoured garments generally provide a more comfortable fit, they are prone to leakage along the edges of the contoured region.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a disposable garment that is contoured for a comfortable fit, is constructed to prevent leakage, and is efficiently produced. There is also a need for a method of making a disposable garment wherein waste from discarded material used in the process of making the garment is minimized or eliminated.